Skype Update Improves Device Sync

Microsoft has released a Skype update for Windows 8.1.  It is designed to guarantee that mobile and desktop clients will stay in sync.  The tech giant has promised a smooth Skype experience for users on Windows 8.1.  The update ensures a better job of syncing Skype across many different platforms.

Skype 2.6 is available now at the Windows Store.  Aga Guzik, head of Desktop Product Marketing at Skype, wrote in a 10 March blog post. “With this update, if you have Skype running on multiple devices, your read chats and picked up calls will sync automatically.”  Skype now does a more polished job of keeping users chat sessions up-to-date, no matter what device they use. The chat history and read messages are now automatically synced. “This way, wherever you are, you can continue the conversation you started…You can also send an IM while someone is offline and they will receive it the next time they sign in.” assured Guzik.

This update is another part of the company’s ongoing effort to develop Skype’s chat and messaging functionality and thereby unify the experience across numerous devices.  The goal of Microsoft is to let users pick up where they left off, impeccably, as they switch to another device such as a smartphone or tablet.  This is needed as users may have a Skype app on their desktop Windows PC and also on an iPhone. Skype apps are available for Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android.

Microsoft is also rumoured to be working on delivering a more responsive Skype experience, which also stretches the battery life.  In a blog post of February this year, a Microsoft senior marketing manager, Elaine Ansell, said users would “see improvements to battery life, startup times, and resume times…improved load times for the app and for recent conversations…it’s now faster to return to the app when it’s not running in the foreground as well as faster to start up, allowing you to chat all day every day without the fear of unwanted battery drain”, She added.

The Skype 2.6 update follows a fresh batch of enhancements, which Microsoft has issued for Skype on Outlook.com.  A new browser plug-in for PC users enables HD video calls directly from within the inbox, and a separate plug-in enables support for Safari under Mac OS X.

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[Image via windowsphonefr]

SOURCE: http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/microsoft-skype-141175